Tony’s

The Asbury Park boardwalk is lined with restaurants. Some are traditional, brick and mortar sit down and be served restaurants. Others are "walk up and order from a food truck in a shipping container" establishments. Let me explain.

In 2018 Madison Marquette, the developer for the Asbury Park boardwalk, added eight 320-square foot shipping containers on the promenade used for seasonal businesses. Other shipping containers on the boardwalk serve as public facilities, such as restrooms. Some food trucks, such as Mogo's Korean Fusion Tacos, are so widely known that they get written up in US News "30 Top Things to Do in New Jersey". I’ve eaten those tacos. They are fantastic.

But the, containerised food trucks have only existed since 2008. This is why the "Est. 1946" text inside the "Tony’s" food truck banner caught my eye. I searched around the interwebs and discovered a little bit of tri-state food history.

in 1946 Anthony Segreto, an Italian American from the Little Italy section of New York City, at the urging of his friend, a local butcher, started selling Italian Sausage and Frankfurters at "The Feast." The business was booming, and soon, Tony was selling Sausage at Italian Feasts and Fairs all over New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. After he retired, he passed the business on to his family. The third generation of Sogreto’s continues to operate this family-owned food concession business at some of New Jersey's largest outdoor special events. The Asbury Park Boardwalk food-truck container is the only fixed-location operation I could find.

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Submitted for CBWC: Side of Things.